Bring Me To Life
by Kiera Matthews
Summary: FINISHED Chapter 16 Up Riley Clarke doesn't have the best life, and Shane was meant to be nothing but a one night stand. Of course, nothing is that simple..
1. 1

Bring Me To Life  
  
Chapter One  
  
She was sick of it. Sick of it all. Sick of crappy jobs with hours so long and pay so low that it should be classed as slave labour. Sick of damp, crappy apartments with bastard landlords that could smell a missed rent payment like sharks could smell blood. She was sick of living a life she hated and not having anything to show for twenty four years on the planet. She didn't even have her name in a yearbook. Riley Clarke would be the first person to admit it, she didn't live, she just exsisted. She didn't have much else. Right now, Riley was standing in front of her bathroom mirror, trying to scrape as much mascara from the tube as she could manage while the light flickered above her. Mascara wasn't part of Riley's budget, and neither was fixing the light. She knew how tonight would run. In about five minutes Alice would show up, looking perfect, they'd go out and Riley would blow her grocery money on booze. They'd end up drunk and and more then likely locked outside her appartmet all night. Riley threw the mascara tube into the cracked sink, she gave up, there was no way in hell she was going to get any out of it. She checked her watched and swore. Alice was going to be there any second and she was still prancing about in her underwear. Riley sprinted out of the bathroom, almost hurdled over the sofa and stumbled into her shoebox sized bedroom where her outfit of jeans and a shirt lay draped over a chair on top of all her other clothes. Whenever Riley got into a rush, things went wrong and now was no exception. She tried to jam both her legs into one and fell on her back. Then she buttoned her shirt wrong just as Alice began hammering on the front door.  
  
"Clarke!" She shouted. "Open this goddamn door now!"  
  
Riley heard another voice in the hall,a gravely male one and just before she opened the door she heard Alice shoot back.  
  
"Oh fuck off you miserable bastard."  
  
That was one of the things about them. Any other time they where mild mannered. The second they where in a ten yard radius, every other sentance usually began with fuck. Alice was still shooting daggers at whoever it was.  
  
"Causing trouble with the neighbours?" Riley asked, faintly amused.  
  
"They're causing trouble with me. Anyway, what the hell is up with your shirt girl? Fix it."  
  
Alice pushed past Riley and as usual groaned. Even the cheap rent would never lure her to such a low as Paradise Heights, the appartment blocks name. She dropped onto the coach, which groaned in protest and looked at Riley expectantly.  
  
"Questions. One, why is your shirt still fastened like that? Two, why aren't you wearing make up? Three, why haven't you asked me if I want a coffee?"  
  
"One, I had to answer the door to you. Two, I have offically ran out of make up and three, there is no coffee. I can offer you a choice of tap water, or nothing."  
  
"Ugh, no thanks." Alice dug her bag and threw Riley a tube of mascara. "Here, use that because you'll never get a guy looking like that."  
  
Riley had already disappeared into the bathroom and shouted behind her "Thanks."  
  
Alice was a writer, more precisly an agony aunt for a teen magazine. She hated it and was trying to work her way up, but the money was good and in Riley's books she shouldn't be complaining. Whenever she could afford it, Riley would buy the magazine and laugh everytime she saw the banner headline proclaiming 'Ask Aunt Alice.' Riley had an Aunt Alice, who was a hideous old hag who belonged in medevil witch stories. The flickering light reminded Riley of her overdue electricity bill, and the phone bill which she didn't have the money for. Jesus, life sucked.  
  
The drinks in the club where ridiciously over priced and just as Riley expected, her shopping budget had been compleatly blown out of the window. Oh well, maybe after two weeks of surviving on rice and orange juice would work as a cheap detox and she lose some weight. Alice seemed to be taking her drink much better then Riley. The whole room seemed slightly fuzzy around the edges and the pounding music was muffeled. Alice seemed fine, she was scanning the room and dancing to the music. She suddenly reached out and hit Riley hard on the arm.  
  
"There." she hissed pulling her close. "Look. You're being checked out."  
  
Riley couldn't see to whoever she was pointing to. It was too dark and her eyes couldn't focus.  
  
"Don't let me drink anymore of these." Riley said, motioning to her empty glass.  
  
"You know you'll buy more whatever I say. Oh shit, he's coming over."  
  
Alice gave Riley a push, forcing her to turn back to the bar. The bartender came straight over.  
  
"Another one?" he asked.  
  
"Erm....no, I think....mmmmm....go on."  
  
"Told you." Alice muttered and then he was besides her. Handing the bartender a bill.  
  
"This one's on me." he said.  
  
Being so close Riley noticed his eyes first. They where brown, then his smile and then he came into view.  
  
"Your hair's green." she said and then reailsed how stupid it sounded and silently cursed her weakness for cocktails.  
  
He just smiled. "I'm Shane Helms."  
  
"I'm Riley. Riley Clarkes."  
  
"So, can I buy you and your friend another drink?"  
  
Maybe it was her lowered inhabitions, maybe it was something in the air. But Riley Clarke said yes, and it was the end of everything she knew.  
  
A/N: so, what do you think. Please R/R. It will get better!-Kiera 


	2. 2

The next day was the first day of the end of her life. She knew as soon as soon as she arrived home and sat down at the cheap kitchen table that the night before had been a mistake. She didn't remember it, but she'd woken up in Shane's hotel room with her clothes strewn all over the place and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Riley Clarke didn't need guilt right now. What she needed was coffee, a stack of toast and a hot shower. But none of these things where in her grasp and her purse was empty, save for Shane's number of a scrap of paper. Riley lay her head down on the plastic that smelled faintly of bleach and shut her eyes. She could see it already, if she wasn't careful she'd end up like her mother Yvette, or worse still, her sister Sydney. Yvette had struggled for years to bring up Sydney and Riley, who had two different fathers. She'd dragged them from state to state, in search for a better life. She never found it for them. Sydney was much the same. She lived with four kids, who had three different fathers, none of whom where around and Sydney was now living with a wealthy older man who had no hope of having kids of his own. Riley loved them both, but it didn't mean she wanted to end up like either of them.  
  
"Jesus Riley, get a grip." she warned herself mentally. "It was one, one night stand. You'll never see him again and you won't end up like Yvette or Sydney. What you need to do is get a shower and crawl into bed."  
  
It was too late, the paranioa was already deep rooted and the only cure for it was a long, conversation with Alice. Riley picked up the phone from it's cradle, there was no dial tone.  
  
"Great." she hissed.  
  
No water, no food and no phone. It couldn't get any worse.  
  
It did. As it always does when you think you've hit rock bottom. It didn't happen for another six weeks. Riley's life had been bumping along at pretty much the same pace as always. Her hot water had been reconnected, then promptly disconnected when her cheque bounced. Her diet had consisted of noddles and the phone stayed unconnected. It was an overcast Tuesday, a day that Riley's finacial situation hit so low she had to walk forty five minutes to the law firm where she worked as a receptionist. She arrived late, cold and ignored by Sally Heslop, the other, perfectly groomed, skinny latte drinking receptionist whom Riley hated. Her morning passed in boring drag in which she answered a few phone calls, made a few coffee's, faxed a letter to Japan and wrote an e-mail to Alice who wanted to meet her for cocktails that night. Lunch came, her stomach growled but the ten dollars she'd set aside in her purse wouldn't be spent on a McDonalds super size meal like she longed. The offices where quiet, everyone had left and Riley was the only one there. She checked her watch. Why did five minutes always seem like an eternity? She tapped her foot impaciently on the tiled bathroom floor and noticed a hole in her sole of her shoe.  
  
"Great." she muttered.  
  
This was exactly what she didn't need. Maybe she needed a new job. One that didn't require any qualifications and paid more then minimum wage. She almost laughed out loud. She must be dreaming. She could always ask Sydney to lend her money, but that meant having to pay it back. Three minutes now. It would of been better if she'd been born into a rich family, an ambitous family, a smart family or a sucessful family. Why couldn't she be Riley Hilton, Riley Clinton, Riley Gates or Riley McMahon? When her and Alice had saw Shane on the cover of the Raw Magazine, Alice had squeled loudly then shouted:  
  
"You've slept with a wrestler!"  
  
Before dragging Riley to her house to look him up on the internet. They'd spent hours trawling internet sites, getting a crash course in the functions of the WWE and Shane's character. Alice had spent the next five days pestering Riley to call him. She refused. She didn't want to. Thirty seconds now. Riley shut her eyes and prayed silently. She promised never to swear or drink or do anything remotly bad again. Just if....the timer on her watch beeped, she opened her eyes and looked. Her heart sank. Two blue lines. Riley Clarke was pregnant. 


	3. 3

A/N: thank you to everyone who reviewed. Hope you like this chapter. Enjoy- Kiera  
  
In the three years she'd known her, Riley Clarke had only known Alice Bates to be rendered compleatly speechless once, and that was when she recieved a particually detailed letter from a 14 year old describing her nightly exploits. Scratch that. Riley had seen Alice speechless twice. Once after the slutty letter and now. Now when Alice was sitting across Riley's kitchen table, her glasses almost falling off her nose, her mouth open.  
  
"Hold on." she said shaking her hand and holding up her hands. "Do you want to run that past me again Clarke?"  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
"You're pregnant?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Pregnant?"  
  
Riley couldn't help but smile. "Yes Alice. Pregnant. Having a baby. Bun in the oven. Up the duff."  
  
Alice sat back in the hardback chair and put her hands behind her head. She stared up at the ceiling for awhile, seemingly deep in thought. She jolted out of it quickly and sat foreward.  
  
"You can't have a baby Clarke. I forbid it!"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Number one, you're you. My best friend! If you have a baby what will I do?"  
  
"Alice am I not, nor will I ever, replace you with anything. Including a baby."  
  
"Have you told all relevant parties?"  
  
Riley ran her hand nervously through her hair and looked down at the table, averting Alice's gaze. "You mean have I told Shane, right?"  
  
"No. I mean have you told George Bush. Of course I meant Shane. He is the father. Isn't he?"  
  
"Of course!" Riley replied hotly. "I don't have one night stands, you know that. You know me."  
  
"Yep. I know you. I also know there are women out there who go out every night, sleep with a different guy and never get pregnant or an STD. But you. Well you get screwed in every sense of the word."  
  
"Don't."  
  
Alice sipped her water, which had been the only thing that Riley had been able to offer her. "You need to phone him. He has a right to know. Plus he'll help you out."  
  
"I don't need help."  
  
Alice raised her eyebrows skeptically and Riley knew she was wrong. To be able to raise a baby alone she'd probably need to work sixteen hours a day, six days a week on her wages. Riley went to the bathroom and when she did Alice swiftly rooted through her bag, retrived Shane's number and pocketed it.  
Almost a week later the city was hit by a suddenly heat wave that started at five am and lasted long into the night. Riley's air conditioning had long since broken down and she had managed to prop herself up onto the window sill to be try and nearer any cool air the night may want to offer. She was drinking water by the gallon and fanning herself with a rolled up newspaper three months out of date. On the couch lay a piece of paper littered with Riley's calculations on how much she could save in seven and a half months. It wasn't a lot. Not nearly enough to be able to bring up a baby. There was a knock on the door. She knew straight away it wasn't Alice. The door didn't rattle on it's hinges. Riley found it harder to get off the window sill, she was almost stuck to it. There was another knock, louder this time, impacient.  
  
"Alright!" she shouted. "Alice if that's you I'm going to kill you."  
  
She opened the door and her mind almost blacked out. Then her eyes focused.  
  
"Shane. Er....Hi. What...?"  
  
"Your friend Alice called me. I don't know how she got my number and she wouldn't give me your's. Only your address and she demanded I come see you in person."  
  
"I'm going to kill her." Riley thought. "I am seriously going to kill her."  
  
"She told me that you're...."  
  
They both shifted uncomftorbly. Neither seemed to want to say it, so they didn't. Riley just nodded. "You don't have to do anything."  
  
"I do." Shane said. "I will. I'll do the right thing. I'll support you and stand by you. I'll marry you."  
  
Riley's breath caught in her throat and she almost fell back into the appartment.  
  
"Marry me? Jesus christ I don't know you. Why would I want to marry you?"  
  
"Because it's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter if we know each other, we'll get to."  
  
"This isn't the sixties. Women are perfectly capable of bringing babies up by themselves. "  
  
"But you don't have to." Shane replied. "I want to be there for you. For our baby. Riley you need me."  
  
She shook her head. "Two months ago you'd never laid eyes on me and suddenly it's our baby?"  
  
"It is our baby."  
  
"I'm not going to marry you Shane. I don't need your help."  
  
Riley slammed the door shut in his face, and as she did the electricity went out.  
  
"Shit." 


	4. 4

Alice returned the next night with a plastic bag full of food which she deposited on the kitchen table. She didn't say anything at all about the candles burning around the room.  
  
"Why did you call him?" Riley asked as Alice unloaded the bag.  
  
"Because you need him." was the reply.  
  
"I do not need him Alice. My mom brought up two kids without any man and I can do it."  
  
As to prove her point, Alice swiftly blew out six candles in the kitchen.  
  
"What are you doing?" Rileys shouted. "That's my electricity!"  
  
"Riley," Alice began.  
  
"Uh-oh." she thought. "This must be serious. She's Riley-ing me, not Clarke- ing me."  
  
"You may be able to make a choice betweebn hot water or electricity, but you won't be able to with a baby and you won't have to with Shane."  
  
"I refuse to marry someone for money." Riley replied, relighting her 'electricity'  
  
"Stabilty." Alice corrected. "Not money. Look around you at the dump you're stuck in."  
  
She didn't reply. She was well aware of the irony of living in a place called 'Paradise Heights' when in reality it was more like living in the ninth circle of hell.  
  
"I'm not saying he can't be involved."  
  
"Riley you're problem is you have morals but far too much pride."  
  
"For your infomation I have no pride, I just I figured if my mom could do it, so can I."  
  
Alice sighed and slammed her hands on the counter top. "But your mom didn't do it! She dragged you and Sydney around all the time with no money. Look how Sydney turned out."  
  
Riley ignored her and finished putting the food away. Eventually she sat down at the kitchen table and began tracing patterns with her finger.  
  
"Do you think it's really a good idea?" she asked, already sounding defeated.  
  
"I think it's your only option."  
  
"But...."  
  
Alice sat down and grabbed hold of Riley's hands. "Listen to me. You're pregnant and instead of gaining weight, you're losing it because you can't afford to eat. Marrying Shane means that you're baby will have the life it deserves. The life you never got. Do you really want your child to go through what you went through?"  
  
Riley rubbed her eyes, then demanded. "Get me the phone."  
  
So there she was, a week and a half later with her life packed up in boxes behind her as she nervously waited for Shane's arrival. Riley was dressed all in black, she thought it was appropriate, she was mourning the life she was leaving behind, even if it was a shit life. Her boss hadn't even cared that she was quitting, he just nodded and promised a small bonus in with her next wages. Sally had practically squeled with delight. Riley still hadn't decided what to tell her mother. She hadn't spoken to her in six months and the idea of just saying 'guess what, I'm pregnant and marrying someone I hardly know', didn't appeal to her. She knew Sydney would nod and relpy with:  
  
"Good for you Riley."  
  
But Sydney Clarke's views on things where always the far end of extreme. Riley checked the time, he was late. Her stomach was doing flips, Alice had been blaming the onset of morning sickness. It was her nerves. To occupy herself Riley flipped open a copy of the magazine Alice wrote for and searched for her page. There was a black and white photograph of Alice, smiling, looking like someone's caring older sister. Then there where the letters. 'Dear Alice, I just kissed a boy and I think I might be pregnant.' Riley could hardly believe some of the things she read, and teenagers thought they had problems. It was laughable.Suddenly the intercom buzzed and Riley dropped the magazine in shock before hurrying over.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"It's me. You ready?"  
  
Ready to leave her life behind? No. But would she ever be? 


	5. 5

One week later, Riley Clarke and Shane Helms got married. It was small, with just his parents present. Afterwards there was no party or celebration, they just went home. Shane immediatly went upstairs to get change and Riley glumly made her way into the garden. It was a hot day, but she didn't care. She sat down on a stone steps that lead down to another part of the garden. Riley pulled at the skirt of her while dress . Her life had changed so quickly, not so longe ago she was struggling along with nothing. Now, she was married and having a baby, but it hadn't happened how she'd always imagined. Shane hadn't spoken to her properly since she arrived and she felt like a prisioner. He never said she couldn't leave the house, but he gave her no reason too. She really didn't want to be there. Shane was watching her from an upstairs window. She looked so unhappy, but at least they'd done the right thing. His parent's hadn't been happy, but they where proud, his dad said he was being a 'real man.' Riley got up and Shane watched her fold her arms and walk around the garden. So, there was the women he'd be spending the rest of his life with. He kept telling himself that he would make an effort with her, that she'd start to get to know her. But as of yet he hadn't done anything. He'd have to soon, she was his wife, wheter she wanted to be or not. Later, he vowed. He'd do it later.  
That night, Shane found Riley sitting on the floor of the bedroom clutching the phone in one hand and wiping her eyes with the other. She looked up at him when he entered the room, but didn't move or try to explain. At first he wasn't sure what to do, and eventually he sat next to her.  
  
"Is everything alright?'' he asked.  
  
"It's fine."  
  
"Then why are you crying?"  
  
She held up the phone. "I'm just a big huge disappointment aren't I?"  
  
"Who said that?"  
  
"My mom."  
  
"You're not a disappointment Riley." Shane said, trying to sound comforting.  
  
She laughed. "How would you know?"  
  
"Out of all the women I've had to marry because I've got them pregnant you're the nicest."  
  
For a minute, Riley just looked at him and he wasn't sure wheter she was going to hit him. Luckily she laughed again, only this time it was sincere.  
  
"Thanks, that really means a lot."  
  
:So it should, because there have been a lot of women."  
  
"And I'm honoured to be one of them."  
  
Shane stood up and pulled Riley up with him. "Just so you know, there are rules. Like making my meals, doing my washing."  
  
"It's pretty obvious you don't know me because I don't do any of those things for anyone. You should be doing it for me, I'm pregnant."  
  
Riley wiped her eyes again and set about getting changed. Shane had given her the oppotunity to sleep in the spare room when she arrived. Then I had gone through a phase of 'whatever you decide', until Shnae had made a decision that they should share a room. They might as well act married.  
  
"You know, this won't be such a horrible thing Riley." He said as she looked around her a T-shirt to wear. "I know, it's just going to take me some time to get use to it. That's all."  
  
She climbed into bed and looked at him expectantly. He climbed in next to her, still fully clothed.  
  
"Anyway, if you're Mrs. Helms now, you should really tell me some other things about you." 


	6. 6

It didn't matter, a month later they wheres till like strangers who simply shared a surname. The distance between them that they'd promised to try and fill was still so wide that Riley went for her first scan all alone. She was sitting in the waiting room, flipping through a magazine and silently vowing not to be any awful naterinty clothes. Once or twice Shane had offered to take her shopping, but she still wasn't compleatly use to the idea of being pregnant and the idea of the money unsettled her.  
  
"Riley Helms."  
  
She looked up and saw a motherly looking midwife standing by the reception desk holding a file and looking around expectantly. Riley took a deep breath and got to her feet, forcing a smile. The midwife lead her to a dark room and ordered her to lie on the bed and roll up her top while she looked over her notes.  
  
"So Mrs. Helms. This is your first baby and your due date is September, right?"  
  
"Yeah, right."  
  
"Ok, lets have a look."  
  
She squirted a cream on he stomach and then began scanning around. Riley looked at the black and white image of her insides and felt slightly sick. It was weird to think she was looking inside her. Then the midwife beamed at her and pointed.  
  
"See, there it is. There's your baby."  
  
Riley frowned and stared hard at the screen. She was definatly unimpressed. It wasn't much to look at and she suddenly felt bad that she was excited by it.  
  
"Oh yeah. Great."  
  
"We can't tell the sex right now, but by the ext scan you should be able to. I'll print you out a couple copies."  
  
She gave riley a tissue to wipe the cream off her stomach and she gave a grunt. Having a baby was messy business.  
  
When Riley arrived home, Shane was sitting on the floor trying to hook the new DVD player up.  
  
"Where have you been?" Shane asked, turning to face her, but still reading the instruction booklet.  
  
"Hospital." She replied bluntly, sitting on the couch and kicking off her shoes.  
  
Now, he looked up, frowning. "Is everything alright?"  
  
"Fine. It was just my first scan. Here." Riley dug in her bag and threw the picture at him. Shane didn't open it up, he just looked at Riley.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me? I would of come with you."  
  
She shrugged. "It wasn't important."  
  
"It was your first scan. The first glimpse at our baby. I would of liked to be there to see it."  
  
"Relax. They took pictures." she bit back.  
  
Shane opened it up and the frown literally evaporated off his face.  
  
"Wow. I didn't expect to feel so..."  
  
"Underwhelmed?" Riley filled in helpfully.  
  
"Exactly the opposite." he said quietly before looking upa t her. "You feel underwhelmed?"  
  
'Shit.' Riley thought. 'Quick. Backtrack.'  
  
"Not underwhelmed. I just mean that, you know....shit. Yes, underwhelmed."  
  
"Riley, this is our baby. Are you saying you don't want it?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "No! But I don't feel impressed by the whole thing, or in awe. I haven't got any of those glowy, happy mother type feelings."  
  
She gave a loud sigh and sank futhur down on the couch, avoiding Shane's eyes.  
  
"This is our baby..." Shane began again.  
  
"You can't expect me to be over the moon about it!" She shouted. "Look how it all happened! Do you think this is how I wanted to become a mother? Well I'm sorry for not jumping for joy!"  
  
Like a spoilt child she folded her arms and sulked.  
  
An hour later Shane had given up with the DVD player and Riley ahd rooted herself in front of the computer to send an e-mail to Alice and a greeting to Sydney, who had someone managed to get her wealthy older man to propose. Shane was sitting in the kitchen, Riley's scan picture lay in front of him. He couldn't believe how she felt. He hadn't imagined becoming a father this way either, but it didn't mean he was any less excited. Him and Riley couldn't carry on like this, otherwise they'd wake up one day, it would be five years later and things would be the same. Maybe it was a mistake to get married, but Riley was poor, there was no other word for it, and it would of been almost impossible to support her with him on the road four days a week and her living in New York. He had to talk to her. When he eventually worked up the courage to go see her, Riley was muttering to herself.  
  
"Francine, Finley, Flynn and....you'd think I'd remember my own newphew's name."  
  
"I'm guessing it starts with an F?" Shane said, tying to ease the tension.  
  
"An everlasting tribute to her Dad. Frank Sydney. A one night stand, like all my mother's men."  
  
"You're sister has her Dad's last name?"  
  
"An everlasting tribute to all the men in Yvette's life. Same here. James Riley was my Daddy ."  
  
Shane pulled a chair right up next to her and looked down at the scan, wondering how he should start the conversation.  
  
"I'm sure you'd be a big fan of calling the baby Helms Clarke then?"  
  
She smiled. "I'm not my mother or my sister."  
  
A sudden memory of Alice telling her the same thing flashed through her head. She tapped the return key to send the greeting and glanced down at the scan in his hands.  
  
"How you feel about the baby will change." He said.  
  
"I told you it's not that I don't want the baby. It's just that I'm not use to it."  
  
"That'll change. Once you start getting fat."  
  
She smiled again. "Yeah and once I start throwing up every morning. The joys of pregnancy." 


	7. 7

Shane had been silent for the better part of three hours, and Matt refused to spend the rest of the drive to New York with only the CD player for company. When he had arrived to pick Shane up that morning Matt had been granted his first glimpse of Shane's wife, as he'd come to refer to her. Matt had been expecting a tall leggy blonde with a sunbed tan, perfect wihte teeth and short clothes, the sterotypical slut. But Riley wasn't any of those things. Her hair was red-brown and untidy giving the impression she'd only just gotten up. She was wearing baggy pyjama bottoms, a white tank top and a long terry cloth robe. She seemed like the sort of girl that Matt always imagined Shane marrying, just not like this.  
  
"So, how's the wife?" He asked.  
  
Shane gave a groan. "She went for a scan yesterday."  
  
"Don't sound too excited."  
  
"She wasn't. I don't think she wants the baby?"  
  
"Did she say that?" Matt asked, only taking his eyes off the road for a brief second to look at Shane, who was staring dead ahead.  
  
"No, she said that she wasn't use to it."  
  
"You can't expect her to be Shane. Three months ago this girl had a life."  
  
"She was living in poverty." Shane told him, digging into his pocket to retrieve the scan picture from his wallet. "She was living on a diet of rice and noddles. She didn't have a life."  
  
"Still," Matt said quickly, trying to make his point even though his theory of party-girl Riley was banished. "She was living a different life, even if it wasn't ideal. Now she's a wife, a mother-to-be, and even if she doesn't have to worry about money or food, it's still an adjustment."  
  
Shane shrugged. "I suppose."  
  
"You've handled it well, you just can't expect her to that's all."  
  
"We're still so distant. It's not like we're married."  
  
Matt laughed a little. "You need to treat her. Like you would if you where dating. Take her to dinner, talk about normal things. treat her like a women, not a burden."  
  
"She isn't a burden."  
  
"Then let her know."  
  
Shane looked at the grainy black-and-white picture as he'd done so many times over the past twenty four hours. He had six months to compleatly turn a hopeless situation around. But he'd do it, he had to.  
  
In her eyes, this was a stupid idea. A date. Please, what would it achieve? They'd talk. Big deal, they could do it at home. Riley was in a bad mood. Another three days alone with just her lingering anger towards Shane was not healthy. He'd breezed home and told her to get ready when all she wanted to do was watch Friends on the couch. She gazed longingly at the couple at the next table sipping champagne and then finished her glass of diet coke. Shane was reading the menu.  
  
"Have you decided?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah." she lied, running her eyes back over her own menu and picking a salad.  
  
The waiter took their order and refilled Riley's glass. She drank half in one go and relaxed back in her chair, looking down at her mid-section and suddenly getting very paniced that she was already showing. God, soon she was going to be huge and then none of her clothes would fit and how would she buy new one's? Maybe she could call Sydney and force her to send her's.  
  
"What did you do while I was away?' he asked, bringing her out of her clothes fuled thoughts.  
  
"The usual. I cleaned, I cooked, I slept. There's isn't much to do."  
  
"You could go the movies?"  
  
"With who? I haven't got any friends and I refuse to go by myself."  
  
"You could go shopping?"  
  
"With what?"  
  
"Money." She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. But I don't have any, do I?"  
  
"But I do."  
  
Riley shook her head. "No way. I'm not taking your money."  
  
"Isn't that the whole reason your here?" Shane asked.  
  
"Yes, but not for me." She patted her stomach. "For the baby."  
  
"I have enough."  
  
Riley ignored him and finished off her drink. He'd offered her shopping money on several occassions and she'd turned him down. It had been like he was trying to buy her off, to make her like him or to make the whole situation easier.  
  
"I don't want your money Shane." she said.  
  
"Then what do you want?"  
  
She shrugged, because Riley honestly didn't know. 


	8. 8

Chapter Eight  
  
A month later Riley was channel surfing, wondering why there was never anything good on TV from eleven a.m. until six. It was discrimination against people who didn't work and just lay on the couch getting more and more pregnant. She was in two minds wheter or not to write an angry letter to the television executives demanding they change the onslaught of home improvment shows. Shane had bought her a mother and baby magazine, but Riley had yet to open it up. She was more interested in Elle and Cosmo. From upstairs she heard a door slam, signalling that Shane had finished his work out and had a shower and in a few minutes he'd arrive downstairs, sit next to her and watch a DVD. This was their routine. Sure enough, just as she'd finished 'Are You Really Ready To Settle Down?' he came downstairs and took the magzine from her hands.  
  
"We're going out." He told her.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Just out. Come on."  
  
Riley pulled herself up off the couch and searched around for her shoes. She wondered if this was going to be another one of his attempts to get to know her better. She had to admit, after her intial anger had faded it wasn't a bad idea, the whole dating thing and she could undertstand why he wanted to do it. But they'd been trying a mouth and made very little progress. Riley tucked the laces into the sides of her shoes and found her coat. When she saw the smile on Shane's face, she couldn't help but wonder what he was upto this time.  
  
Riley was furious. The frown had been a permanant feature on her face for ten minutes, ever since they'd arrived at the airport to 'pick someone up'. It may not have been her house, but Riley would of liked to have been informed that there would be a vistor. Especially one who was staying ten days meaning she'd be alone with them. Riley was already imagining an overbearing Aunt who'd probe her constantly for questions and tell her everything she was doing was wrong. Shane was scanning the arrivals lounge, he turned to look at her.  
  
"Are you alright? You look pissed off."  
  
"What do you think?" she snapped. "I'm going to have to entertain one of your relatives who'll ask me how we met and want to see wedding photographs and I don't even think we have any!"  
  
He laughed and this only angered her futhur. "Don't worry. They're not like that."  
  
"I'm going to get a drink from the canteen. I'll meet you there."  
  
Riley turned on her heel and stalked away, not being able to get a highed pitched voice out of her head saying:  
  
"Now Riley dear, you don't want to be doing that. Not in your condition."  
  
She bought a diet coke and picked up a tatty, complimentary paper before settling herself on a table near the edge of the canteen. Well if she had to put up with one of Shane's relatives, maybe she'd invite Sydney and her brood to stay. A smile spread across her face. That would be great. She could imagine Shane trying to cope with her four demon spawn.  
  
"That's the first time I've seen you smile in awhile." Shane said from the side of her. Riley didn't want to look yet, she had to mentally prepare herself, but didn't get a chance.  
  
"Still pregnant I see Clarke." a familar voice chimed.  
  
Now she looked and her smile widened. It was Alice. 


	9. 9

"So, anyway, I get this letter off this seventeen year old asking me what should she do now that's she's pregnant."  
  
"And that's why you quit?" Riley asked.  
  
Alice rolled her eyes. "No Clarke. I quit because it was the fifth letter like that in a week. My editor told me the generation needed me. I told her the generation needs to be neutered."  
  
Riley nearly chocked on the slice of pizza she was eating. "So what are you going to do now?"  
  
Alice shrugged. "I figured I'd go get pregnant. Everyone else seems to be doing it. Why aren't you fat? I was expecting you to be huge."  
  
"I'm ony four months."  
  
"So. I was wondering when you where going to ask me to visit you."  
  
"I didn't ask you." Riley reminded her, throwing her crust into the pizza box and getting herself another piece.  
  
"I know. It was nice of Shane. He even paid for the flight and everything."  
  
"Yeah, well he would." Riley muttered.  
  
Alice retrieved the mother and baby magazine from by the couch. "Do I sense a hint of bitterness Clarke?"  
  
"I'm not bitter. It's like he's trying to buy me over. Shall we got shopping? Want to see a movie? Shall I fly your friends from New York?"  
  
"Yeah, how dare he. It sounds to me like he's doing all the running around and what part of no mushrooms don't they understand?"  
  
"He is not doing all the running around, I just don't like him throwing money at every problem."  
  
"You're not going to get any sympathy off me." Alice told her, flipping to an article about the most popular baby names.  
  
"Well I should! you got me into this. It was your grand idea."  
  
"Yeah, my grand idea to have you taken care of and maybe get a little papmered and that is exactly what he's trying to do. So enjoy the ride, buy a pair of ridiculously expensive shoes and give them to me when your feet swell."  
  
"You don't understand..." Riley started.  
  
"Have you consider Calla for a girl? Calla Honey Helms. What do you think?"  
  
Riley pulled the magazine from it and threw it across the room.  
  
"Alice!"  
  
"Clarke. This is how your life is going to be. The way it's should be. Stop making Shane doing all the running around. Stop making him chase you. Just stop."  
  
Alice had always had the knack of making Riley feel about two inches high. If she'd been anyone else, Riley would have given them the finger and swore at them. But this was Alice. "Aunt Alice' who had been dissing out accurate advice to teenages all over the country. She knew she was right.  
  
That night, long after Alice had gone to sleep, as Shane read a book next to her, Riley's mind was in overdrive. Everything Alice had said to her kept flashing up in her mind, like the sentances had been written on flashcards and retained to torture her. Several times she opened her mouth to speak, then closed it abruptly. Giving a mental scream of frustration she sat up, licked her lips and cleared her throat.  
  
"Shane, I just wanted to say that......bringing Alice here.....well....it was nice of you."  
  
"You said you had no friends here and I felt bad."  
  
Guilt flashed through Riley. "Yeah, well. Thank you."  
  
She kissed him quickly on the cheek before lying on her side, facing away from him so he couldn't see her burning cheeks. 


	10. 10

Chapter Ten  
  
There was a couple directly opposite Riley and Shane, a women a few more months along then her whose husband had his hand permantly attached to her stomach. Riley scrunched her nose and looked around the waiting room for something other then parenting magazines, there where none. Shane however was immersed in one seven months out of date. Riley checked her watch, their appointment was scheduled for fifteen minutes ago. She hated being kept waiting. The couple opposite had now taken out an early scan picture and where cooing over it. She rolled her eyes and doubted that there's looked any less like a blob then her last one had. Shane put the magazine down and noticed the couple too, the husband was now muttering to his wife's swollen stomach. He frowned.  
  
"If I did that...."  
  
"I'd kill you." Riley finished. "I get the whole miricle of life thing, but do they have to turn into idiots?" He laughed and a nurse appeared from a side door.  
  
"Riley Helms." she called.  
  
The room was the same one as last time and she needed no prompting to lie down and pull up her T-shirt. She also needed no warning that the gel would be cold. The midwife had given her notes a quick glance and was turning on the ultra sound.  
  
"How have you been Riley? Any problems?"  
  
"No. I'm alright?"  
  
"Just wait, soon you'll be begging for September to come. Believe me, I've got three."  
  
She gave a poliet smile and had turned to mutter something to Shane, but his eyes where already fixed on the blank screen, and his hand was hoovering strangley close to hers. The black and white image came on the screen and because her expectations had been so low, Riley's breath was take away by what she saw. She could actually see the baby. Even without the midwife's tracing finger she could see the outline of the baby's head and it's spine. For the past two weeks, ever since the offical half way stage of her pregnancy, Riley had begun to worry that she wouldn't feel like she was going to be a mother and once the baby was born she wouldn't feel a bond with it. But now, it had hit her. Seeing the image had sent all her doubts and half worries fleeing for her mind. This was her baby and she was going to be a mom.  
  
"Perfectly healthy. Do you wnat to know the sex?"  
  
Riley wanted to get Shane's opinion. But he seemed to have lost the ability to speak.  
  
"No," she said. "We'll wait."  
  
But in all honesty, she didn't want to.  
  
Shane made dinner that night and they ate it in the kitchen in silence. Every so often Riley couldn't help her eyes from wandering over to the newset scan picture stuck to the fridge door. It was clearly labelled underneath 'Baby Helms, 5 months.' Shane had scanned the picture into the computer and Riley ahd e-mailed it to Sydney, Yvette and Alice, although she knew Alice would be seriously unimpressed by the whole thing.  
  
"Still underwhelmed?" Shane asked her suddenly.  
  
"What? Erm....no. Most definatly not. It seems real now doesn't it? "  
  
"Yeah. The scan today has made me reailse that there are only four months to go."  
  
Four months wasn't a very long time considering that in the first four of her pregnancy she'd gotten married and move to an entirely differnet state. She felt very weird sitting at the table. the strangest sensation swept over her, something she couldn't describe that made her legs tingle. Then it hit her. They where going to be a family, her and Shane, and she didn't really mind. 


	11. 11

Chapter Eleven  
  
They had begun a game. Riley would sit on the floor, just outside the nursery and point out imaginary spots on the wall that Shane had missed, and count how it took him to chase her downstairs. In turn, whenever Riley complained about anything pregnancy related Shane would declare that it was 'the miracle of life' and she would throw something at him. Riley was now six months pregnant and said that her bump appeared overnight. Shane would watch her stand in front of the mirror, pull up her top and try and pull it down differently in a vain attempt to hide her stomach. Even thought the scan had the hospital had changed things, the main break through for them came one afternoon just after lunch. The dishwasher was broken so they had taken the job of washer and dryer. Shane being the washer. They where talking about something that had been on the news that morning when Riley suddenly put the plate she was drying down and rolled her eyes.  
"For god's sake." she muttered.  
"What?" "The baby's kicking." The look Shane gave her said 'isn't that a good thing', and Riley read it.  
"It doesn't it non-stop." "Ah, the miracle of life." Shane said.  
Riley rolled her eyes. "Here! Feel!" She pulled his hand out of the sink and pressed it down over her stomach so Shane could feel the baby's repeated kicks.  
"Wow." he breathed.  
"Wow? Not wow! Not all the time. I swear this child will grow up to be a kick boxer, I can see it." Even after a few minutes had elapsed, Riley still hadn't moved his hand, in fact she seemed perfectly comfortable and content to just stand there like that all day. When Shane did go back to the washing up, he had left a big wet hand mark on the front of her top. Riley simply went back to drying the plates and resumed their earlier conversation like nothing had happened. But it had, and that was what mattered.  
  
They watched a movie that night, as was their routine. Some stupid straight-to-video trash with Jean Claude Van Damme. He hadn't even noticed Riley had fallen asleep until he felt her head resting against his shoulder. It was strange how she had changed so quickly. Shane never thought that she would warm to having the baby, or to him. He still found it hard to conjure images of Riley changing diapers or pushing a buggy or of them being an actual family. This marriage thing had felt temporary for the first few months, but Riley and him would be together forever. They may not have chosen to be and there probably wouldn't be any more kids, but for the next eighteen years they where together. Him, Riley and the baby. It was still a strange thought and even stranger still, could he actually love her? 


	12. 12

Chapter Twelve

Rolling her eyes, Riley reached for the mustard and did her best to ignore the catalogue Shane was pushing at her.  
"Riley! This is important! Which one?"

"What does it matter?"

"It matters to me! Now which one?"

"What's the difference?"

He gave a groan of annoyance. "This one's beech and this one is maple."

Riley looked down at the two cribs on the page and tilted her head. "If I can't tell, a newborn baby won't be able to tell."

Shane pulled the catalogue away from her and flipped the page over. "I can't believe I have two months to find a crib."

"Eight weeks is a long time to find a crib Shane."

"I know. I just can't believe I left it so long, after all the nursery's been finished for weeks."

"Shane, don't worry. When I was born I didn't had a nursery. I shared a bed with three other people." He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Oh yeah. Me, Yvette, Sydney and whoever Yvette's flavour of the month was." She finished with the mustard and reached for the mayonnaise. Shane watched her scope it out and spread it on the bread. "What is that?" he asked. "Right now it's a salad cream, mustard, mayonnaise and cucumber sandwich." 

"Pregnancy cravings are disgusting." He replied, looking away in disgust.

"It's not a craving. I'm so pissed at not having craving that I'm trying everything to see if I am and I'm just missing it." 

She folded the bread over and lifted the sandwich to her mouth, but stopped at the last second.

"You know what, forget it." Riley picked the plate up and threw the sandwich away. 

She was washing the plate in the skin when Shane came up behind her to clean his glass. When Riley turned around she found herself face to face with him, well as close as they could get with Riley's seven month bump in the way. For a crazy second, just as he moved towards her, Riley thought "He's going to kiss me." and her heart skipped a beat.  
But Shane took a step back and said "

I thought you should know, I have a date tonight."

* * *

As of late, Riley had loved being seven months pregnant and being able to blame everything on hormones. But sitting alone that night while Shane was out, she was finding it very difficult to blame her anger on her hormones. Eventually, feeling like she was going to explode, Riley picked up the phone.  
"He's out on a date! Can you believe that? I'm good enough for him to knock up, but not good enough for him to take out? Is that it?"

"Well," came Alice's quiet reply. "You are kind of fat now."

"I'm seven months pregnant Alice!"

"And huge. Which of course I'm taking great pleasure in. You use to be a skinny cow."

"Focus Alice!"

"Why does it bother you so much? Last time I checked, you hated him, you didn't want to be down there anyway."

"I don't anymore. I coming home."

Alice laughed. "Clarke you don't have a home, not here anyway."

"So what? I'm just suppose to accept that he's out with some other women?"

"Pretty much yes. Did you expect him to go eighteen years without so much as a date? Come on!"

"You know what Alice? You suck at this stuff!" Alice laughed.

"Whatever. Call me when you gain more weight Clarke."

She hung up and Riley gave a scream. She threw a pillow across the room and sat down. Alice did have a point, Alice always had a point. What was bothering her about the whole thing so much? Her and Shane didn't get married because they wanted to, they had to. Still, he could of at least talked to her about it. She hated men.

* * *

When Shane arrived home, Riley was sleep on the sofa, but woke up when she heard the door close. She looked at him with half closed eyes."Enjoy your date?" she asked with more then a little bitterness.The truth was he hadn't. All night he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong. He'd felt strange all night."It was alright, but I don't think we'll be going out again."

"Why?" Shane just shrugged.

"I think it's probably best if we focus on the baby for awhile. You know?"

Riley nodded and sat up. "Sure. Whatever. I'm going to bed." Why did she suddenly feel so different? She couldn't have feelings for Shane, could she?


	13. 13

Shane sat watching Riley make her way through a tub of ice cream at a steady pace. She'd gotten up early that morning claiming there was no point trying to sleep with a baby sitting on her bladder. She hadn't made eye contact with him or said anything since.

"Riley, do you want me to go pick the new crib up today?" he asked.

"Whatever."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Why ever would I be mad at you Shane?"

"Do I really have to say it?"

She raised her eyebrows in a way that said 'Of course.'

"Because I went on a date."

"Oh, you think I'm mad because of that? I can't stop you living your life Shane and I won't. Go on as many dates as you want. I mean once the baby is here I won't be condemning myself to a life of celibacy."

That was something Shane had never though about before. He'd thought about himself going on dates, but not Riley. That was something else entirely. Riley was the mother of his baby, she was his wife, not some other man's sex object. That was so wrong for so many reasons. Shane couldn't help but shiver when he thought about it.

"Riley, I think we should talk about the whole dating thing." Shane said.

She didn't even look up from her tub. "Really?"

"Yeah, I think we shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?"

"Date."

Very slowly, Riley put her spoon in the tub, but the tub down and wiped her mouth. "Shane, that's a really noble idea, but do you think you can do it?"

Riley's tone was full of sarcasm, and Shane knew it but couldn't say anything. He also noticed she used the word 'you' and not 'us', but didn't mention that either, just so she didn't beat him with the spoon.

"Well, it's not really fair on the baby. This is a difficult enough set up without Mommy and Daddy having boyfriend's and girlfriend's. Plus, what if it gets serious between one of us and someone else?"

She gave a slow nod. "They're really valid points Shane. I'll think about it though."

Riley got up and waddled out of the room. Shane wondered how long she was going to torture him, and what she'd do if he told her that he was starting to have 'feelings' for her. She'd probably kill him, hell, Shane would probably kill himself. It was hard enough just saying it in his head.

Riley sat herself down in the nursery, right by the crib in the lemon armchair she insisted on having as a rocking chair would be too much of a clique. She smiled slightly, that would teach Shane. The baby kicked.

"Yep. We showed Daddy didn't we?" she asked. "Daddy is an idiot if he thinks he can do things like that and expect Mommy to be ok with it. Daddy's stupid. Daddy shouldn't mess with Mommy, no he shouldn't."

The baby gave another kick and Riley took that as a sign that he or she agreed. She didn't want to think of the real reason that she was so mad. Because she was beginning to think of Shane as hers and not anyone else's. Because, as much as she didn't want to say it, Riley thought there was a chance that she might just be falling in love with Shane Helms.

"Damn it." she whispered out loud. Damn it all.

She heard Shane come up the stairs and rolled her eyes.

"Riley. We have to go out."

I don't have to do anything, Riley thought. But instead she got up and went to get changed.

The out was Shane's parents and changed met a red top with big sleeves and stretchy black pants. Mrs. Helms greeted them both with a kiss, and a pat for the bump that was her Grandchild. Mr. Helms was sitting in the kitchen trying to put something together. Every time Riley saw him, without fail she thought of her own Dad. James Riley hadn't been not included in her life by his choice, but by Yvette's for reasons she never understood. Riley had met him a few times and she remembered fierce fights between her parents for years as Yvette shipped her and Sydney around the country. Eventually he stopped trying and she had no idea where he was now. Riley never felt she missed out on not seeing him, but every time she saw Shane's Dad, she got a horrible twinge of loss. Shane's Dad smiled at her and hugged her as best he could.

"How is my Granddaughter today?" he beamed.

Shane rolled his eyes. "Dad, your jinxing it."

"No I'm not. I just telling you the truth, it's a girl, I can tell."

He winked at Riley and pulled her out a chair before going off to make her a cup of tea. Mrs. Helms produced a plate of cookies before sitting down and launching into a in depth conversation about what had happened that week. That was when the thought came into Riley's head.

"Yep." she thought, placing her hands on her stomach so the baby could hear it too. "I'm defiantly in love with him."


	14. 14

Matt rolled his eyes as Shane pulled the scan out again and proudly showed it off to Trish.

"Awwww." Trish said. "How long to go now?"

"A month. But the Doctor's said that she could go into labour any time after two weeks."

Trish smiled. "Let me know. I want Godmother rights!"

Shane put the picture away and Matt shook his head.

"Get a grip."

"What? I'm excited. What can I say?"

"How can you get excited about sleepless nights and dirty diapers? Plus you're making Amy broody and the last thing I need when I'm trying to recover from knee surgery is Amy bugging me about babies and marriage. Anyway, how's the wife?"

"Fine." was Shane's simple reply.

But she was better then fine. Riley had the 'pregnant' glow still and she had made peace with being so big. She read the bump bedtime stories and when Shane heard her giving a running commentary on celebrities on E! he thought she was talking to herself, until he saw her glancing down at the bump.

"And that's Jessica Simpson. She isn't the brightest crayon in the box. Britney Spears, if you end up dressing like her I will kill you, but if you're a boy and you choose that life style I will still accept and love you." She'd been saying before she switched to Spike TV and giving a run down on the entire roster. Shane could tell that Riley was ready to have the baby, whether or not she was ready for life with him was a different matter all together.

Riley was dancing in the kitchen. Well she was dancing as well as she could being eight months pregnant and all. Eminem blared out from the radio as she made herself a stack of sandwiches and read a book of baby names, trying out a few experimentally.

"Ok. Leo. Leo. Leo Shane Helms, what do you think?"

She took no activity from the baby as a no.

"Fine. What about...?" she flipped the pages. "Alyssa?"

Nothing.

"You know you are my baby and I love you but damn it child you are picky."

The phone rang. Alice, she knew before she picked it up.

"It's so sad Clarke." Alice began. "I'm not going to see you for a long time."

"Why?"

"Well first the baby will cry and make a mess. Then it will be a horrible toddler followed by a horrible child then a teenager and eventually it will grow up and move out, then I can see you."

"Alice, you are insane and if you don't come and visit your godchild I'll come to you."

"How are things? Do you still hate him or do you want to rip his clothes off?"

It took all of Riley's strength not to choke on her sandwich.

"Neither, plus even if I wanted to rip his clothes off I couldn't. Not in my condition."

"You're pregnant Clarke, you haven't got the measles. Then again, I do consider pregnancy to be the biggest STD in America."

"I'm so charmed you think of my child as a disease. Thanks Alice."

She could practically see the grin on Alice's face.

"You're welcome, what are friends for. Anyway, on a serious note."

Riley nearly choked again, even when Alice was serious, she never said she was.

"Riley, take care of yourself."

"Alice, you just called my Riley."

"I know, but I'm worried."

She smiled and sat down at the kitchen table. "Lots of people have babies."

"Not about that. You and Shane. I hear the tone in your voice when you speak about him and I'm not stupid. I know that you're falling in love with him."

"I..."

"Don't bother arguing Riley. I know, I can tell. Don't forget why you're there. If you think he loves you back it's only because you're carrying his baby, nothing else and all these hormones are making you crazy."

"Alice...."

"Don't get your hopes up, don't let him hurt you."

As if to agree, the baby kicked and Riley felt sick.

"I have to go Alice."

There was no goodbye, she just hung up and ran to the sink to throw up.

When Shane arrived home, Riley had worried herself sick literally and had made all the plans in her head. Once the baby was born she'd arrange joint custody with Shane and go back to New York. Alice was right, she shouldn't try and kid herself. The smile on Shane's face evaporated when he saw her.

"You look like crap." he told her, rushing to Riley's side as though she might fall over an second.

"I'm fine." she said waving him away, but knowing she did indeed look like crap.

"Are you sure?"

What sort of question was that? Of course she wasn't sure, she wasn't sure about anything else, why would this be any different?

"No. I'm not."

Shane sat her down on the couch and Riley tried to take a few deep breaths, mentally blaming Alice for making her worry and not eat or sleep since their phone call. This wasn't going to turn out very well.

"Have you been stressed, because I read that can cause premature labour in some women."

"No. I just need to sleep. Help me upstairs."

So Shane did, he stayed until Riley was under the covers and until the lights where turned off, then he lay next to her. It was only once she was fast asleep and Shane knew it did he say

"I love you."


	15. 15

It was a horrible day. Overcast and grey but boiling hot at the same time and Riley couldn't sit in the house alone any longer. Her due date was five days away and if she wasn't obsessing about being a bad mother, she was freaking out about how much pain she'd be in during labour. Shane was on the road again and for once she was thankful, for the past three weeks things had been weird, especially with Riley walking around with this notion of what to do next in her head.

"I bet you can't wait for it to be over." the sales girl said when Riley stopped to buy new shoes.

She forced a smile, unable to not think about the pain she would have to go through first, a pain that Sydney had told her was 'beyond all words'.

"I can't wait to drink coffee again."

"When are you due?"

"Thursday."

The sales girl smiled again and wished Riley good luck. Riley wished for a quick labour, but then after that there would be the messiness of telling Shane she wasn't staying, oh god that would mean divorce. Alice would be thrilled, it wasn't her fault not that it stopped Riley from blaming her. There was a sharp twinge in her back that made her catch her breath and the baby gave a kick. Time to go home.

By eight the twinges where still coming and Riley was sitting in the kitchen with a hot water bottle behind her trying to ignore it. She kept looking at the fridge with the ultrasounds stuck next to each other, soon it would be more then a black and white image, something she couldn't believe. Her back gave another sharp twinge and Riley groaned, this defiantly wasn't normal. She decided to call Sydney who was in the middle of roping her brood into bed.

"Sorry Riley, what did you say?" she asked as one of the children gave a loud scream in the background. "Hold on. Flynn! Flynn! Stop poking Francine! Go on."

"I've been getting back pain all day and it's getting worse. Is that normal?"

"When are you due again?"

"Thursday."

"Maybe you should go the hospital. But then again it might be strain."

"Thanks for clearing that up." riley said rolling her eyes.

"Well I don't know. I'm not a nurse and I never had it. Go to bed and if it gets worse call a Doctor."

Riley hung up on Sydney and called Shane's cell, which was off. What a lot of use that would have been if she'd really needed him, not that he hadn't been there for her before. So it was going to end, but he had married her, given her a house and anything she wanted. He hadn't neglected her and he'd made her feel welcome. Of course she'd gone and screwed it all up by falling in love with him and it was going to break her heart to leave him, but she had to. It was then, when Riley got up out of the chair to go to bed that her waters broke and she screamed in surprise.

Shane shook his cell phone and frowned. What was the point in having a phone if the battery was just going to die.

"The planes are all still grounded." someone said from behind him. "And they won't tell us why or when they'll be in the air again."

There was a collective groan from everyone, but Shane didn't notice. He wanted to call home, scrap that he needed to call home. Ever since the night Riley was sick and he actually said he loved her out loud, he'd been torn between keeping it to himself and working up the courage to tell her. But that could cause all sorts of troubles. Still he really needed to talk to her. Badly.


	16. 16

A/N: This is the end! Thank you for everyone who has reviewed! I know it's short but I'm writing a sequel. Enjoy-Kiera

By eleven o'clock the next morning it was all over and Shane still hadn't arrived. Riley had been awake for fifteen minutes when the mid wife came in pushing the cot in front of her.

"Sleep much?" she asked.

"Not really."

This had been a surprise, after a long agonising labour Riley had expected to fall straight asleep but she just couldn't settle. The sight of her baby looking out at her with a white cap on made her smile and she gratefully took him.

"What's his name then?"

"Noah. Noah Shane Helms."

The mid wife nodded and promised to try phoning Shane again before she left. Noah was looking at Riley as if she wasn't really sure if he trusted her or not.

"Look at you. You know I'm going to tell you a secret but you can't hold it against me. When I first found out I was having you I thought it was the end of the world and I thought my life was over, but you brought me to your Daddy and we both love him very much."

Noah was still eyeing her suspiciously and Riley kissed him on the forehead.

"You're perfect and I hope you stay like this forever."

"Mrs. Helms, your husbands here."

Then Shane was at the door, looking tired, worried and excited all the once.

"Sorry, I had trouble and then I got home and there where all these messages on the phone and.."

He stopped talking and sat on the edge of the bed.

"If you cry I'll hit you." Riley warned. "Got it?"

Shane nodded.

"Shane, this is your son Noah, and Noah this is your Dad Shane. Say hi."

"Can I hold him?"

"Why not, he's half yours."

Riley passed Noah to Shane who carefully took him and looked as though he was terrified he would drop him.

"Sorry I wasn't here." He apologised without taking his eyes off the baby.

"It's ok, you're here now and just so you know, this is the part where you tell me that you're proud of me for going through thirteen hours in labour."

But Shane didn't say anything, what he did was kiss her. It wasn't the kind of kiss Riley had spent three months (which was longer then she would admit) hoping for, it was just a soft kiss on the lips but it made her stomach turn over.

"You're amazing." He told her. "Noah is amazing and now we're a family. We're not an ideal family or a perfect one, but we are one. Does that bother you?"

It didn't, it really didn't. What bothered her was that she was madly in love with Shane and couldn't do anything about it, but that was another story for another day. Today, only Noah mattered, tiny Noah who was now giving Shane the same look he'd given his mother. Noah was her reason to live and Shane had given her him, if it was possible she thought she loved him more for it, because she did of course love him and he loved her.


End file.
